Zheng Corporation

The spacious office decorated primarily by white furniture and steel material was quiet except for the occasional ticking of the clock. Not a single sound could be heard within the desolate room. The atmosphere was suffocating and the tension was high.

The secretary standing in front of the desk with her head bowed did not dare to look up. Her head hung in shame for something she couldn't have prevented. Nervously swallowing, she could only hope her boss would spare her in his thirst for blood.

"What do you mean our proposal was rejected?" Zheng Tianyi seethed, his fingers pressing harshly onto the metal pen.

"W-we have just received word from Zhao Corporation and—" Chen Xing let out a startled gasp when an object was hurled towards her. She narrowly dodged, but the dart was able to scratch her cheeks, immediately causing blood to drip.

"You've already told me that. I asked why the proposal was rejected, not for you to repeat yourself like a recorder!" Zheng Tianyi roared, slamming his hand onto his desk.

Chen Xing flinched in fear, her breathing came out haggard and anxious. She was terrified of Zheng Tianyi and what he could do. When angered, he was like an irrational beast out for blood. It was impossible to quell his anger unless Xia Mengxi was present. This was precisely why Chen Xing practically begged her to "make a visit" before letting Zheng Tianyi know the collaboration he wanted was not going to push through.

"The proposal was sent back with notes on why it did not pass the Zhao Corporation's preliminary assessment. A lot of our ideas were crossed out and—"

"Fire the entire project planning board."

"Yes, sir." Chen Xing hastily typed the note onto her tablet.

"I want you to seek out the primary consultant who was in charge of looking over all the proposals to Zhao Corporation for the next fiscal year. Find out their name, their position in the company, address, and contact them." Zheng Tianyi felt his blood boil. Courtesy of that damned woman's connection to Zhao Corporation, he was able to learn that Zhao Moyao had an independent team of consultants that only report to him that work on crucial business collaborations. The identities of these consultants have always stayed hidden under Zhao Moyao's precautionary measures in making sure that the decisions made are free from any influence of external forces.

"Yes, sir." Chen Xing's fingers were slightly shaking because of how anxious she felt. Zheng Tianyi was a ticking time bomb right now and one wrong word could set him off.

Chen Xing had been here for five years now. She knew how precarious the situation is, and how it has turned the harsh Zheng Tianyi even more unbearable to work with. Ever since Zheng Corporation lost the support of the Zhao Moyao, their stocks had been slowly dwindling.

Chen Xing was one of the core workers who knew about Zhao Lifei's existence in Zheng Corporation. Before she was promoted to become CEO Zheng's private secretary, she had already been a part of the CEO's team of secretaries.

Not many people knew that ever since Zhao Lifei returned after graduating from Harvard, she had immediately taken on running the company as Zheng Tianyi's proxy. Chen Xing had witnessed first hand how Zhao Lifei spent her one year holed up in the office with them, barely eating and sleeping, resulting in the drastic skyrocketing of Zheng Corporation's net worth.

Zhao Lifei ran a tight ship. Every single contract and proposal went through her, and she had led the management team into closing successful deals without even having to take credit for anything. With her gone, the team was chaotic and could barely function.

The departments weren't properly run, despite the fact that Zheng Tianyi was constantly hiring new managers and executives. Most of the ones who were competent and had been inadvertently mentored by Zhao Lifei had resigned. A few partnership companies had also left with Zhao Corporation since it was thanks to Zhao Lifei's influence, that the Zheng Corps. were able to borrow resources.

With her gone, the company had taken a big hit in the two years. On the surface, they seemed perfectly fine and even looked as if they had maintained the glory they had achieved during the year she worked here. But deep down, the multi-million deals she had closed was not a guarantee in closing future deals.

Zheng Tianyi had high hopes and expectations for the collaboration idea he had sent to Zhao Moyao. With Zhao Moyao's animosity towards him, he had to pull a lot of strings to get it directly handed to him.

The proposal was created and tediously perfected for a good few months to make sure that it was so good, Zhao Corporation would overlook the fact that they had already severed ties. Zheng Tianyi had spent his blood, sweat, and tears to create it, but it was rejected by a simple consultant?

That was a smack to his face and pride. Ever since he had taken over the family business, the net worth of Zheng Corps had rapidly increased. All of his business plans always worked out well in the end, thus, he gained the reputation of a reliable businessman.

When Zhao Lifei left, the company already had ongoing deals with all the huge reputable companies in the country. He had no issues with the ideas he had presented with the newer companies they had yet to partner up with.

Now that those projects had come to an end, it was time for Zheng Tianyi to prove himself once again, only to have an old established company to reject him for the first time!

Even though some companies were very reluctant to work with the Zheng family, seeing as their stocks were steadily dropping, none of them could go against Zheng Tianyi in fear of the power of the Zheng's private army in his hands. The King might've slipped, but that didn't mean he couldn't retaliate.

Just then, a knock sounded throughout the room.

"Who is it?" Chen Xing called out, walking towards the door and opening the room to reveal a stunning woman with an angelic aura.

With luscious hair framing her dainty face, dewy eyes, and peach blossom lips, Chen Xing bitterly understood why Xia Mengxi was ultimately favored by Zheng Tianyi.

Zhao Lifei was the epitome of an ice queen. She is deservingly haughty and has the aura of a ruler who can crush anyone who blocks her way. Meanwhile, Xia Mengxi embodied exactly what poems would define as a stunning yet weak woman you need to dote on and pamper.

Xia Mengxi offered Chen Xing a polite smile before brushing past her and walking straight towards Zheng Tianyi who was surprised to see her.

"Honey, what are you doing here?" His mood took a 360-degree turn and immediately became better at the sight of his partner.

"I was called here." As always, her voice was dainty and soft, like the gentlest stroke of a feather.

Chen Xing stood by the door, hesitating between leaving and staying here. She didn't want to interrupt them or witness the heart-wrenching scene of watching your crush clearly love someone else.

Ever since Xia Mengxi retired from being his private secretary to become a "housewife", Chen Xing had been promoted to take over her previous role.

When Xia Mengxi was hired, she had the luck to immediately snag the role of Zheng Tianyi's private secretary. Given that everyone in CEO Zheng's team was highly competent, Chen Xing had expected that Xia Mengxi who had managed to gain the favor of their CEO was a capable worker as well.

However, upon her retirement, Xia Mengxi simply left the position. There had been no training, no knowledge transfers, no manuals, and zero explanation on what she had been working on prior to retiring. She had taken the role on without any guidance from the previous secretary at all!

After undergoing too many trials where she was nearly fired, Chen Xing was finally able to secure her position. Deep down, she harbored extreme dislike towards Xia Mengxi, even more than the negative emotions she felt when Zhao Lifei started working here.

Even with her slight infatuation with Zheng Tianyi and Zhao Lifei's arrogant disposition, Chen Xing couldn't find any fault with Zhao Lifei's professional ethics. In comparison, she thought Xia Mengxi was just a typical gold digger who climbed her way to Zheng Tianyi's bed.

The office staffs would often gossip about Xia Mengxi. A lot of people saw her as a homewrecking mistress for taking someone's fiancé, but there was also a few people who supported her.

Xia Mengxi was a beacon of hope to the women who came from simple backgrounds that they can someday catch the attention of a powerful CEO.

Some thought her actions were justified because Zheng Tianyi was known to have never loved Zhao Lifei. So what if she liked him? It didn't mean he had to like her back! There were hundreds of girls that fell in love with Zheng Tianyi's charm, but that didn't necessarily mean he had to replicate the same feelings.

Chen Xing looked back at the loving couple and felt her mood turn incredibly sour when she saw that they did not even wait for her to leave the room before getting into a compromising position.

Rolling her eyes at how inappropriate they were in the office, she walked out to fulfill the tasks given to her by Zheng Tianyi.

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